Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/979

Rh TACHOS. TACITUS. 967 improvements, by Orellius, appended to his Phae- dru8 (8vo. Turic. 183-2). (Cic. ad Fam. xii. 1 8 ; Senec. Controv. vii. 3 ; Senec Ep. 8, 94, 108, de Tranquill. An. 11, Con- solat. ad Marc. 9 ; Petron. 55 ; Plin. H.N. viii. 51 ; Gell. xvii. 14 ; Macrob. -Sa^. ii. 2, 7 : Hieron, Chron. Euseh. ad Olymp. clxxxiv. 2, comp. Ep. ad Laetam ; Johann. Sarisb. viii. 14.) [W. R.] TA'BALUS (Ta'gaAos), a Persian, whom Cyrus, after he had taken Sardis, left there in command of the garrison. Here Tabalus was soon after be- sieged by the rebel Pactyas, but was delivered by Mazares' (Herod, i. 153, &c.) [Mazares ; Pac- TVAS.] [E. E.] TABUS (Tagos), a hero in Lydia, from whom the town of Tabae in Lydia was believed to have derived its name. (Steph. Byz, s.v. Tctgat.) [L.S.] TACFARINAS, a Numidian, who gave some trouble to the Romans in the reign of Tiberius. He had originally served among the auxiliary troops in the Roman army, but he deserted ; and, having collected a body of freebooters, among whom he gradually introduced the Roman disci- pline, he became at length the acknowledged leader of the Musulamii, a powerful people in the interior of Nuraidia, bordering on Mauritania. Having been joined by the Mauri under the command of Mazippa, he ventured, in A. d, 18, to measure his strength with Furius Camillus, the proconsul of Africa, but was defeated with considerable loss. In A. D. 20 Tacfarinas again attacked the Roman province. He carried his devastations far and wide, and defeated a Roman cohort which was stationed not far from the river Pagyda (perhaps the modern Abeadh), but, after meeting with con- siderable success, he was defeated in his turn by Apronius, who had succeeded Camillus, and was compelled to retire into the deserts. Nothing daunted by these defeats, Tacfarinas found means to collect a fresh army, and in a. d. 22 had the impudence to send ambassadors to Tiberius, soli- citing abodes for himself and his troops, and me- nacing the emperor, in case of refusal, with per- petual war. Tiberius was indignant at receiving such a message from a deserter and a robber, and gave strict injunctions to Junius Blaesus, who had been appointed governor of Africa, to use every effort to obtain possession of the person of Tacfa- rinas. In this, however, Blaesus was unable to succeed, for although he defeated Tacfarinas, and took his brother prisoner, Tacfarinas himself suc- ceeded ill making his escape. At length, in A. D. 24, the Romans were delivered from tliis trouble- some foe. In this year Tacfarinas, having again collected a large force, attacked the Roman pro- vince, but P. Dolabella, more fortunate than his predecessors in the government, not only defeated but slew Tacfarinas in battle. Dolabella was as- sisted in this campaign by Ptolemaeus. king of Mauritania, the son and successor of Juba II., who was rewarded by Tiberius, after the ancient fashion, with the presents of a toga picta and sceptre, as a sign of the friendship of the Roman people. (Tac. Ann. ii. 52, iii. 20, 21, 73, 74, iv. 23—26.) TAOHOS (Taxws), king of Egypt, succeeded Acoris, and maintained the independence of his country for a short time during the latter end of the reign of Artaxerxes II. When the formidable revolt of the western satraps was put down in b. c. 362, by the treachery of Orontes, the satrap of Mysia [Orontks, No. 3], Tachos feared that he might have to resist the whole power of the Per- sian empire, and he therefore resolved to obtain the aid of Greek mercenaries. He prevailed upon Chabrias, the Athenian, to take the command of his fleet, and sent an embassy to Sparta, soli- citing Agesilaus to undertake the supreme com- mand of all his forces. The Spartan government gave their consent, and Agesilaus readily complied with the request ; for, although he was now up- wards of eighty, his vigour of mind and body remained unimpaired, and he was anxious to escape from the control to which a Spartan king was subject at home. Upon his arrival in Egypt, Age- silaus was greatly disappointed in having only the command of the mercenaries entrusted to him, Tachos reserving to himself the supreme command of all his forces, both by sea and land. Neverthe- less he submitted to this affront, and accompanied the Egyptian monarch into Syria, in b. c. 361, along with Chabrias, and, according to Plutarch, endured for some time in patience the insolence and arrogance of Tachos. Meanwliile Nectanabis, probably the nephew of Tachos, and a certain Mendesian, disputed with Tachos for the crown. Agesilaus forthwith espoused the cause of Necta- nabis ; and Tachos, thus deserted by his own sub- jects as well as by his mercenaries, took refuge in Sid on, and from thence fled to the Persian mon- arch, by whom he was favourably received, and at whose court he died. By the help of Agesilaus, Nectanabis defeated the other competitor, who had collected a large army, and became firmly esta- blished on the throne. This is the account of Xenophon and Plutarch, and is in accordance with incidental notices in other writers. The statement of Diodorus, that Tachos returned from Persia, and vias again placed upon the throne by Agesilaus, is undoubtedly an error. (Diod. xv. 92, 93 ; Xen. Ages. ii. §§ 28—31 ; Plut. Ages. 36—40 ; Com. Nep. CJiabr. 2, 3, Ages. 8 ; Polyaen. ii. 1. § 22 ; Ath. xiv. p. 616, d. e. ; Aelian, V. H. v. 1.) TA'CITA, " the silent," one of the Camenae, whose worship was believed to have been intro- duced at Rome by Numa. He is, moreover, said to have particularly recommended the worship of Tacita, as the most important among the Camenae. (Plut. Numa, 8.) [L. S.] TA'CITUS, M. CLAU'DIUS, Roman emperor from the 25th September, A. D. 275, until April, A. D. 276. After the death of Aurelian, the ai-my in Thrace, filled with remorse on account of their fatal mistake [Aurelian us], and eager to testify their penitence, instead of proclaiming a new emperor with tumultuous haste, despatched a sub- missive letter to the senate, requesting that as- sembly to nominate out of their own body a successor to the vacant throne, and pledging themselves to ratify the choice. The senate at first received this most unlooked-for communica- tion with mingled surprise and distrust, and, fearing to take advantage of wliat might prove a very transient ebullition of feeling, courteously declined to accede to the proposal. At the same time, expressing their full confidence in the discre- tion of the soldiers, they referred the election to the voice of the legions. The troops, however, 3 Q 4